After four years of study and accomplishment, seniors turned their tassels on June 1 to begin a new life.
Four Los Alamos High School graduates took the time to talk about high school and their futures.
Andrew Habiger will attend Kansas State University and major in bakery science and management.
“Bakery science and management is looking at food and the chemistry in it and the ways you can change it to be more efficient for either big companies or problems like world hunger,” Habiger said.
Throughout high school, he participated in a rugby club, took three years of advanced ballroom dance and participated in the high school’s DECA program.
For Habiger, the most memorable part of being a senior was getting to the end of the year.
“The most memorable part was definitely getting through all the classes and making that final push to finish strong,” Habiger said.
His advice for incoming seniors is to look out for scholarships.
For Miranda Honnell, the most memorable part of senior year was opening her acceptance letter to the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma.
She will major in elementary and special education. In high school, she participated in cross-country, track and field and was a member of the National Honor Society.
The NHS was started in 1921 to recognize outstanding high school students. It also requires students to participate in community service events.
Honnell’s advice to incoming seniors is to make the most of their senior year. “I stressed out too much about school my senior year, so just have fun with it,” Honnell said.
Travis Richins feels that the senior class always seems to come together in their last year of high school.
Homecoming was the most memorable part of this year for Richins. “That’s when our class started getting together more — and before that, we were kind of divided,” Richins said.
He went on to say that during senior year, students really find out who are their good friends. Richins will attend New Mexico State University and studying microbiology.
During high school, Richins participated in baseball, teen court, student council and church activities.
He was also a member of the NHS. His advice to incoming seniors is to “fight ‘senioritis’ as hard as you can.”
The most memorable part of senior year for Kyle Partin was also getting to know his classmates more.
“Before my senior year, I hadn’t had a really good friendship with any other people in my class. I was friends more with older or younger people,” Partin said.
For all four years of high school, Partin was involved in the Navy Junior Reserve Officer training Corp.
This year, he was the unit’s cadet commanding officer. He was also involved in Irish dancing and competitive fencing outside of school.
Partin will attend Texas Tech University and major in mechanical engineering.
He has an Air Force ROTC scholarship that pays full tuition and requires him to study mechanical engineering.
He has some advice about senioritis for incoming seniors.” When I was an incoming senior, I thought senioritis was something you decided. That is not the case, you lose the ability to do any work whatsoever. So be prepared for that.”